Summary of the previous chapter: Ma Xiaoquan held an internal meeting and decided to abandon the training ground project. At the same time, he took over the merchant market first and waited for Zhang Jiude, the Minister of Works, to come back...
Tomorrow, on February 10, the second year of Qi, Emperor Zhu Youxiao of Tianqi will reward the officials in the court.
According to convention, before the emperor's wedding, he must reward his favorite officials. The content of the rewards can be financial rewards, land rewards, promotions, marriages, etc., or they can be "distributed" in a combination of several reward methods.
Ma Xiaoquan undoubtedly benefited from this great reward. He was upgraded from the third-grade deputy commander to the third-grade commander and commander. At the same time, he also received a land reward from Emperor Tianqi. I don't know if it was a coincidence or something else.
Yes, the land rewarded by Emperor Tianqi to Ma Xiaoquan happened to include the gathering areas of merchants outside Beijing.
After Ma Xiaoquan received the reward, he almost laughed out loud. If he hadn't pinched his thigh all the time, the secret would have been exposed.
In fact, Ma Xiaoquan has not been promoted again in the official rank, but the leadership has undergone qualitative changes. In the past, Ma Xiaoquan was led by the commander Zhengsanpin, but now after being rewarded by the emperor, he has become a direct follower of the emperor's orders and no longer
Listen to the orders of the Jin Yiwei commander.
In other words, if anything happens in the future, Ma Xiaoquan does not need to report to the commander, but directly to the emperor. This is actually equivalent to asking Ma Xiaoquan to do what the commander does. Therefore, with the emperor's grand reward order, the court
Chinese officials changed their name to Ma Xiaoquan as "Master Deacon" one after another.
Deacon, this word is rarely used in the Ming Dynasty. Generally, only people with special status will be called "deacon".
Anyone with a discerning eye inside and outside the imperial court could see that Ma Xiaoquan was favored. Of course, after being favored, Ma Xiaoquan was not proud. Instead, he visited every official one by one.
Ma Xiaoquan's move can be said to be "popular with the officials". Officials Wei Jinzhong and Lu War and Industry Minister, except Wei Jinzhong, who originally had some objections to him, also changed their attitude at this time.
While Ma Xiaoquan received a great reward, another person also received great benefits, and this person was Wei Jinzhong.
Wei Jinzhong was given the title of Dongchang Arrest by Emperor Tianqi, and was specifically responsible for guarding the capital during the emperor's wedding. He was a fourth-rank official. Although he was not as good as Ma Xiaoquan in terms of official rank, his power was more obvious than Ma Xiaoquan. After all, guarding the capital was not a one-man job.
A small matter, this is a major matter directly related to the emperor's life and safety.
...
In Ma's house, Ma Xiaoquan was flanked by three guards in royal robes. These three were his confidants who had been working with him in the past few days.
One of them reported to Ma Xiaoquanhui: "Master Deacon, Wei Jinzhong has been frequently involved in the training ground project recently. After you let go, Wei Jinzhong seems to have got involved...
Ma Xiaoquan snorted coldly: "Wei Jinzhong, huh, I already expected it, let them work together, my target has been moved now, huh, but... you guys keep an eye on me!"
"Yes, Mr. Deacon!"
...
Ma Xiaoquan's prediction was not wrong. After he ignored the training ground project, Wei Jinzhong immediately invited the emperor and said that he also wanted to participate in the supervision of the training ground project. Zhu Youxiao was young and ignorant, and after being deceived by Wei Jinzhong, he immediately agreed.
Wei Jinzhong was overjoyed and immediately took the emperor's oral instructions to the Minister of Industry and Lu Zhan and stated his intentions.
Although Lu Zhan and the Minister of Industry were not very happy, the emperor had said it and they had no way to refuse. In addition, the two of them originally wanted to bring Wei Jinzhong into the camp to deal with Ma Xiaoquan, so after discussion, they warmly welcomed
Wei Jinzhong joined the group.
Wei Jinzhong relied on the fact that he was an arrester in the East Factory and was responsible for guarding the capital. As soon as he joined the group, he used the banner of "defending the capital" to intercept project funds wantonly and made a lot of money.
Of course, Wei Jinzhong is not a person who likes to keep it to himself. He divided part of the intercepted project funds and gave them to Lu Zhan and the Minister of Industry. Although this part of the money was much less than before, it was still better than before.
Even though Lu Zhan and the Minister of Industry had complaints, they managed to swallow their anger.
On February 24, the three of them gathered together to discuss how to continue making money.
I am afraid that the training ground project will not be profitable this year, so the three of them decided to extend their claws to the business gathering place.
It's just that... the merchant gathering place is the place where the emperor just gave Ma Xiaoquan a reward. It would be inappropriate if he intervened rashly and let Ma Xiaoquan know about it. Therefore, the three of them discussed and established "
Chamber of Commerce".
The "chamber of commerce" the three of them intended is not a chamber of commerce that actually does business. To put it bluntly, it is a gang organization similar to a local snake. Its main target is the merchants who come and go, collecting tolls and protection fees from them. Although
There were some small organizations in the gathering place, but they were not backed by mountains, so the three of them joined in and decided to secretly set up a violent chamber of commerce in the name of Wei Jinzhong.
...
While some businessmen in the gathering area were recruited by Wei Jinzhong to form a violent chamber of commerce, Ma Xiaoquan had already begun his next plan.
The gathering place was the land given to Ma Xiaoquan by the emperor, so Ma Xiaoquan naturally had absolute leadership.
Originally, this land was ownerless, and the merchants who came and went conducted trade in their own way. Although there were small organizations such as gangs within it, they had no background and were easy to organize.
.
It's just... recently I heard that there is a group of "merchants" entangled in the gathering place, who are responsible for collecting tolls and protection fees from merchants.
After Ma Xiaoquan learned about it, his first plan was to completely defeat these local snakes, but... he also heard that the background of these local snakes was the arrest of Wei Jinzhong in Chao Dongchang.
Although Ma Xiaoquan is not afraid of offending Wei Jinzhong, there is a reason for the incident. It is best to find a reason to eliminate the local snake. Otherwise, Wei Jinzhong will definitely not let him go.
.......
On this day, Ma Xiaoquan led Li Qinghan's three daughters to inspect the gathering place. Because of their beautiful appearance, Ma Xiaoquan specially ordered the three women to disguise themselves.
When I walked to the door of the gathering place, I was stopped by a tall, thin man with a wretched appearance before I even entered.
"Hey, what are you talking about? What are you looking at? You have to pay to get in."
Li Qinghan's face turned cold and he said, "Zangzhi, do you know who he is?"
"Hmph, I don't care who he is. I only care about money. You have to pay to come to this place. You can only enter after paying. To tell you the truth, this merchant gathering place is the only way to the capital. You
You can choose other places to go, but I tell you, you will never enter the capital!"
"You!" Li Qinghan was furious and just about to have an attack. Ma Xiaoquan stopped her and said to the tall, thin and wretched man with a smile: "Brother, how much does it cost to enter this door?"